Conduits of a variety of types are used in delivering electrical signals, electrical power, or a substance over a distance. Often, numerous conduits are used in close proximity to one another to deliver a plurality of signals, power, or substances between locations. Identifying the function of the plurality of conduits can be difficult, particularly when the conduits become entangled or obscured from view for a portion of the distance over which they extend.
In particular, conduits used in a healthcare setting, such as medical tubing for intravenous (“IV”) delivery of substances and electrical leads, may be difficult to identify and distinguish from one another. A patient undergoing treatment in a healthcare setting, such as an emergency room, ambulance, critical care unit, nursing home, or outpatient clinic, may be connected to numerous electrical leads and medical tubing for collecting vital information and delivering essential nutrition and therapies.
Healthcare professionals regularly monitor patients' vital signs, as well nutrition and therapy levels delivered through IV tubing. In addition, healthcare professionals must regularly check and replace IV connections at various connection sites to change or replenish the nutrition and therapies being provided to the patient. Connections at the IV site on the patient may be changed at least every 72 hours to reduce the risk of infection.
These tasks can be challenging given the plurality of leads, tubing, and devices that can be associated with a patient and that can become entangled with one another. Healthcare professionals typically identify the function of each conduit by tracking the conduit from its source, through a tangle of conduits, to the point of connection to the patient to ensure that the correct nutrition or therapy is applied. The time required for tracking the path of a conduit can be significant, and, in rare instances, may lead to errors in configuring the conduits. Consequently, the many electrical leads, tubes, and medical devices in proximity to the patient present challenges for patient care.
In other environments, identification of electrical cables is the challenge. Many cables extend over a substantial distance and are often routed within walls of a structure or underground between the source and destination locations. As such, at least a portion of the cables are not visible. Once the cables are placed in the walls and covered, identifying the cables at different locations may require specialized electrical equipment that can detect a signal at each location of the cable. In other environments, such as in a home office or home theater, a user may have a substantial number of cables located within a small area. The cables can become entangled, and substantial effort can be required to identify the cables at each end.
To address these issues, some users apply pieces of tape with handwritten identifiers to the conduits. However, the adhesive on the tape can degrade over time and the tape can fall off the conduits, or the handwritten identifiers may become illegible. In addition, tapes and adhesives can leave sticky residues causing cables or tubing to become even more entangled. A more reliable approach for identifying conduits is therefore desirable.